The 9-Bottle Bar Recipe: The Beachcomber Cocktail

It’s July, outdoor drinking is in full swing, and orange liqueur is our muse of the month here at The 9-Bottle Bar. Based on those three facts, we seem practically duty-bound to mine our cocktail-recipe resources for a drink that suits these summery climes. So let’s get busy mixing up the Beachcomber.

This cocktail, which appears in the famous 1947 Bartender’s Guide by tiki legend Trader Vic (Victor Bergeron, Jr.), utilizes three of our nine core bottles — light rum, the aforementioned orange liqueur, and maraschino liqueur — so it makes great use of supplies on-hand.

As you’d expect from a Trader Vic-popularized cocktail, the Beachcomber’s blend of flavors (especially with the addition of maraschino liqueur) includes a hint of that telltale tiki funk.

The Beachcomber Cocktail

Ingredients

Instructions

Combine the ingredients in a Boston shaker or cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain the contents into a chilled cocktail glass.

Recipe Notes

In Trader Vic's formulation, the Beachcomber is a blended drink with 2 ounces of rum. For this shaken-and-strained variation, the amount of spirit is dialed back a bit. If you choose to blend your Beachcombers over ice, try upping the rum to 2 ounces per serving.

Both the orange and the maraschino liqueur contribute sweetness to this recipe, so try it first without any additional simple syrup; it may be sweet enough for your taste as is.